The workspace will be arranged according to the editing mode chosen in the Control Panel: Express or Advanced.

In Express mode, the program's interface is extremely simplified. It has the minimal set of parameters needed for a user to quickly obtain a satisfactory result.

Workspace of AKVIS Neon (Express)

In Advanced mode, the full functionality of the program is available.

Note: All features and parameters work in Express mode. Some are hidden and use default values or those of a chosen preset.

Workspace of AKVIS Neon (Advanced)

The left part of the AKVIS Neon window is taken by the Image Window with two tabs: Before and After. In the Before tab you can see the original photo. The After tab shows the resulting image. You can switch between them by left-clicking on the tab with mouse button. To compare the original and the resulting images, click on the image and hold the button pressed - the program will currently switch between the tabs.

In the upper part of the program's window you can see the Control Panel with these buttons:

The button activates the Smudge tool that lets you quickly add a handmade touch to your drawing. It mixes colors by displacing pixels, like a finger passing through wet paint.

The button activates the History Brush tool which lets you fade the effect and restore the image, partially or fully, to its original state.

The button activates the Lighten tool which allows you to increase the brightness in certain parts of your image.

The button activates the Darken tool which allows you to reduce the brightness.

Additional Tools:

The button activates the Hand tool which allows you scroll the image when it does not fit within the window at the desired scale. Bring the cursor over the image, and while keeping the left mouse button pressed move in the desired direction. Double-clicking on the tool's icon makes the image fit the window.

The button activates the Zoom tool which changes the image's scale. To zoom in left click on the image. To zoom out left click with Alt on the image. Press Z to quickly access the tool.
Double-clicking on the tool's icon makes the image scale to 100% (actual size).

Navigate and scale the image using the Navigator. The frame in the Navigator surrounds the area of the image which is visible in the main window; the area outside of the frame will be shaded. The frame can be dragged, thereby changing the visible portion of the image. To move the frame, place the cursor within it, left click the mouse, and then drag.

Navigator

To scroll the image in the window you can press the spacebar on the keyboard and drag the image with the left mouse button. Use the scroll wheel of the mouse to move the image up/down, by keeping the Ctrl key pressed – to the left/to the right, by keeping the Alt key pressed − scale the image. Right-click on the scroll bar to activate the quick navigation menu.

Use the slider or the buttons and , to scale the image in the Image Window. When you click on the button or move the slider to the right, the image scale increases. When you click on the button or move the slider to the left, the image scale reduces.

You can also change the image scale by entering a new coefficient into the scale field. The fall-down menu shows some frequently used coefficients.

You can use hot-keys to change the image scale + and Ctrl++ (⌘++ in Mac) to increase the image scale and - and Ctrl+- (⌘+- in Mac) to reduce the scale.

Under the Navigator there is the Settings Panel with the Image and Decoration tabs:

Decoration: You can add text to your image, adjust the canvas, and apply a frame.

Below, in the Presets field you can save the current settings as a preset to use them in the future. The current settings can be saved, edited, deleted. When you launch the program, it opens with the last applied parameters.

Under the settings you can see Hints for the parameters and buttons when you hover over them with the cursor. You can choose where the hints will be shown or hide them in the program's Preferences.